The parish of Mission Santa Inés celebrated a long restoration process Feb. 18 with the rededication of their mission church, and dedication of the mission museum to William "Bill" Warwick, its curator for over 40 years.

Santa Barbara Regional Bishop Thomas Curry presided at the ecumenical service which included civic leaders, pastors from other religions and spiritual leaders of the Chumash Indian nation.

The 1,300 families of Mission Santa Inés paid for the new pews, and the restoration of the mission church came from funds raised by parishioners and private donors. The interior of the church was repainted, and decorative elements on walls and several statues within the church were restored to bring the church back to its original color and beauty.

Prior to working in the church, restorative painter Eric Krever researched mission archives and found an original altar cloth with decorative leaves. Using the design element from the altar cloth, he and his crew began to repair walls, and found original painted green vInés that they and a crew of two others replicated on the walls and around arches. They used a technique employed by Michelangelo: drawing on paper, punching small holes and transferring a drawn image to the walls, hand painting everything.

"It's always a challenge, doing this, but always fun," said Krever who also did the restoration of Mission San Luis Obispo.

Mission historian and archivist Sheila Benedict said everyone involved in the restoration project has been very generous, and added that "the California Missions Foundation has also been an enormous help to us," especially for work done in cleaning and restoring artworks.

Capuchin Franciscan Father Michael Mahoney, Santa Inés Mission pastor, believes that "the continuing restoration that is going on in this treasure is very important to the Santa Ynez Valley community." As often as possible he tries to offer the mission for community events.

Warwick, a long-time parishioner and former mayor of Solvang, said he was "overwhelmed" by the presence of so many parishioners and friends for the dedication of the Mission Museum in his name.

"I've had a special interest in this museum for over 40 years," he said. "I consider it a very special honor. In the cases of our museum, and in the statuary, we have our early history. We are in touch with the early life of the valley. This is where Santa Ynez Valley began. It is an honor to bear the name of Saint Agnes, Santa Inés."